Albert Pujols Will Retire After the 2022 Season

Albert Pujols has confirmed that the 2022 season will be his last.

Fittingly, Pujols gets a victory lap with the team that led him to stardom after signing a one-year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals.

There’s no overstating Pujols’s accomplishment. The surefire Hall of Famer won three MVPs with the Cardinals, finishing top four in MVP voting in nine of his first 10 seasons in the majors. In total, the 42-year-old has racked up 3,301 hits, 679 home runs, and 2,150 runs batted in.

Pujols can carve out an even bigger piece of history with a historic 22nd season. The former 13th-round draft pick sits 64 RBIs shy of Babe Ruth for second-most in MLB history, 21 home runs shy of 700, and 17 shy of Alex Rodriguez for fourth-most, and needs only 18 hits to crack the top 10.

The signing hasn’t moved the needle in the MLB futures market, with the Cards remaining mid-range options at +3500 to win the World Series, per FanDuel Sportsbook.